The Bachelor
by AlysiaR
Summary: Trunks, the eternal bachelor, has forgotten what commitment is, even when dealing with his best friend Pan...until she reappears in his life five years later. Perhaps he'll get a taste of what it's like to truly love someone.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. :) Maybe the plotline, but nothing's original these days, right?

"Talking"

_Thinking_

Chapter 1

"I just think it'll be a little awkward is all."

"How could it possibly be awkward? You've known him literally since you were born, and, from what I understand, have been best friends ever since."

"You're skipping over the part where we haven't talked in five years, baby." Pan allowed herself a small, bemused smile as she finished putting on her makeup and continued her conversation with the man in the adjoining bedroom.

"Five years is nothing between friends Panny. Trust me, you guys will pick up exactly where you left off, I'm sure of it. I mean, unless there's some sort of bad blood going on between you right now." Mark adjusted his tie in the mirror over the dresser drawer and stepped back, making sure his suit was properly fitted.

_Unless one party involved ran away from the friendship for years to avoid letting certain emotions spill over and ruin things, _Pan thought quietly to herself. With a tiny furrow of her eyebrows, she let the thought go, as she'd learned to do so efficiently.

"No, no bad blood. Just...I mean, I guess there's no reason to be worried. I don't even know why I _am_ worried." She looked up and grinned as Mark sauntered into the bathroom and wrapped his arms around her waist, burying his face into her neck and making her laugh.

"You look beautiful," he murmured as they met gazes in the mirror.

Her eyes skipped over her reflection, taking in the tight, black, strapless number she was wearing and her freshly-done hair and makeup. "Thanks," she laughed, blushing. " I guess I can clean up okay if I try really hard."

"Okay?" Mark raised his eyebrows, "Just okay? Try stunning. You don't give yourself enough credit Pan."

Pan smiled again, as she found it so easy to do around Mark, and turned from him, walking into the bedroom to grab her purse. "Well, when you see some of the women there tonight you'll probably consider leaving me on the spot. These people all have two things in common: they're filthy rich and they're gorgeous."

Mark frowned, "I thought you said we'd be seeing your family. I mean, not that your family's not gorgeous or rich, but..."

"My dad, mom, grandparents and uncle will be but a few of the guests on the list. You forget: this is a _Briefs_ Christmas party, sponsored by Capsule Corps. of course. Besides my family and the Briefs, the invited guests will all be top clients, CEO's of various connected companies, shareholders...you get the idea." She grabbed a coat as he walked back into the bedroom and then held out his jacket for him. "I forget sometimes that you've never been to one of these. I've been going since I was old enough to walk, and causing trouble for poor Bulma ever since. Not going for five years was kind of weird, now that I think about it." She paused with her hand on the doorknob of the front door of the apartment, "I don't know...you think everything's gonna snap into place and just be the same as it used to be?"

"Well there's a big difference between going to this sort of thing when you're 18 and going when you're 23...besides the fact that you can drink, I mean. I'm sure you'll find a lot of the people you knew have changed quite a bit."

_He never changes. _"Yeah, I'm sure you're right. Now come on baby, we're going to be altogether too fashionably late if we don't get a move on. Mea culpa I guess. Next time I won't take so long getting ready," she said good-naturedly. They stepped out the door and into a cold night, speeding quickly away from their apartment in a tiny coup towards the Briefs mansion, where Christmas always meant scandal, gossip, and the most expensive hors d'oeuvres this side of Orange City.

Trunks Briefs sauntered through the enormous ballroom of the house, where the open bar and dancing floor were set up. With a trademark smirk on his face and wearing a suit which probably cost more than most men's wardrobes put together, he casually greeted his guests, which, coincidentally, were all people he needed to sweet talk anyways.

"Mr. Torrence! Hi there Mrs. Torrence. Always a pleasure seeing you both." As he made small-talk with the couple, he eyed his mother primping herself and neurotically checking the decorations around the room. With a grace only she could muster, she haphazardly hung a sprig of mistletoe in the doorframe which led to the kitchen at the back. There were already several clumps hanging in every major entrance and exit in the house, which was slightly alarming to the handsome bachelor. He knew he'd be on his toes all night, figuring out which girls he'd want to get stuck in doorframes with. "...Well then, if you're thirsty it's an open bar as always. Please help yourselves, it's right over there."

He directed them towards the bar, which now had a few people crowded around it, and wandered off to find his sister. As he walked away, he could hear Mr. Torrence saying, "...I don't care if his hair is as green as the goddamned grass! That boy has charisma and I trust him with the company. HIs mother couldn't have made a better choice..." His smirk widened, and he spotted his sister, nursing a drink in one hand and patting down her skin-tight, shiny red mini-dress with the other.

"Ah, Bra! My beautiful sister! The belle of the ball. Just who I was looking for."

"I'm sure you'll be using that line on plenty of other women tonight, hotshot. Don't waste all your best material on me." Bra looked her brother up and down, taking in his demeanor. "Then again, you probably won't have to say a word. Just leave some for the other bachelors, okay?"

"I'll try, darling younger sister. How many more people are supposed to show up?" He grabbed a drink from a server walking by with a tray of glasses and sipped it nonchalantly.

"A_lot_ more. Including..." Bra trailed off, looking into her drink too intently.

"Including_who_?"

"Including Pan Son, whom we both haven't seen...well, since she left for the University I guess. But I'm sure you've been keeping in touch with her like I have, right? We've still been steady pen pals this whole time, and you know how big of an accomplishment that is for me." She laughed and sipped her martini, "I miss that girl."

It was Trunks' turn to concentrate intently on his drink. He hadn't known that Pan had been writing to Bra, keeping in touch with his sister but not with him. _I guess the blame works both ways on that one. I never thought to...well...it was always easier than thinking about it and missing my best friend._ Even as he was thinking it, Trunks knew he was making excuses for himself. Why _hadn't_ he kept in touch with his best friend? Was it that easy to pretend she'd never existed?

Bra quickly snapped him back to reality, "Speaking of women in your life, there is definitely something missing in your ensemble tonight dearest brother."

"Like what?"

"Well, normally thirty-year-olds bring _dates_ to these kinds of things. You know, some sort of acquaintance, friend, steady girlfriend, financé..._wife_. You know, significant others. I see you are lacking in that department." Bra's sharp tongue never failed to rile Trunks up and infuriate him. Her insinuations were so much more aggravating than direct accusations.

"Bra, you know I can never bring dates to these things. They end up getting ridiculously jealous--"

"--For good reason--" Bra added.

"--And storming off in a huff. There's no getting around it."

Bra considered the thought for a moment and then slowly said, "Marron never left."

Trunks drew his eyebrows together and the corners of his mouth turned down. In a venomous hiss he whispered, "You had to bring that up didn't you? One of the only serious girlfriends I ever have and---I mean she was the only one I ever dated who was close to our family--you know, she's here tonight, right? So can you just...I don't know, let sleeping dogs lie? Please?"

Bra, knowing full well her words would have that effect on Trunks, withheld her smile and nodded graciously. "Of course. Sorry to have brought up the subject, I just thought people might wonder when Trunks, the most wanted man in the world, will ever stop being a bachelor. I mean, doesn't a fear of commitment say something to all those clients in the room?" She finally let the smile show on her face and walked swiftly away, before Trunks could close his gaping mouth and retort.

With another large gulp of his drink, he turned away, looking for more guests to woo. As his clear, blue eyes scanned the room, he caught sight of a woman slipping in through the front entrance. Her black hair swung easily behind her, and she was laughing at a joke someone had told. The black dress she was wearing clung to every curve of her body and left just enough to the imagination. Her eyes glimmered in the lights strung up about the room. Everything about her, from the jewelry she was wearing to the way she swung her hips as she walked down the stairs, was perfect. _Target spotted,_ he thought to himself as he began to make his way over to her. He knew that in a matter of hours she'd be pulling him upstairs and that he'd be adding another beautiful tally mark to his list.

Just then, she tapped none other than Gohan Son on the back, and when he turned around she leapt into his arms, giving him a giant bear hug. Trunks' jaw dropped. _This couldn't be..._Then, as Goten Son approached and swung the girl around in a complete circle, he knew. Over the noise of the growing crowd and the dance music which had just been started he heard, "Panny! It's been so long!"


	2. Chapter 2

As soon as she'd stepped through the door, Pan Son knew the night would be a little crazy. Besides the fact that Bulma Briefs lived for (and occasionally created) drama, scandal and intrigue, there were unfinished matters which would undeniably hang above the heads of certain people in the room the entire night.

Mark had dropped her at the front door while he parked the car, leaving her with no choice but to walk into the giant, daunting house (escorted, of course, by hired help) to escape the biting wind and winter chill. When she entered, she handed her jacket to the man who had shown her in and walked slowly down the front hallway she used to know so well. Following the sound of music, she turned left and stepped into the largest room in the house, where a Christmas party had been and would be held every year until the end of time.

Trendy, moody Christmas music was blaring from a set of speakers that cost more than she'd care to know about, although she knew that as the night wore on and as everyone in the room became more drunk, the music would become raunchier, faster, and louder, allowing for inappropriate dancing and wordless flirtation. She'd watched it too many times, giggling about the behavior of grown-ups with Bra, to be surprised anymore at the ridiculous things her elders did. But now she was one of them, and she resolved at least not to ridicule herself by becoming inebriated. She didn't want to make a fool of herself in front of Mark, but more importantly, she needed all her wits about her tonight to make sure that her reunion with old friends went smoothly.

She walked into the room casually and humbly, and when she noticed the eyes of a few men on her, blushed and hurriedly looked around for someone she knew. Suddenly, she spotted her father, Gohan Son, whom she hadn't seen in a few months since she'd last visited him. She moved through the throng of people gracefully and tapped him on the shoulder. As he turned around, she hugged him fiercely before he could get his bearings.

Gohan laughed when he realized his daughter had finally arrived at the party. "They can dress you like a lady but they'll never take that ridiculous strength out of your arms," he said as she squeezed him tightly. "I missed you Panny."

"I missed you too, Dad." She smiled and let him go, happy to have found her father.

"Where's Mark?"

"He's out front parking the car. I imagine it'll take him a while. The whole street's filled with cars; there wasn't a spot in sight when we got here."

"Well I hope he hurries. By the time he gets here all the food might be gone since--"

"Panny! It's been so long!" Before she knew it, Pan felt herself encircled by strong arms and the world spun around her as her uncle, Goten Son, swung her in a circle. "Pan, you're not allowed to stay away for more than a couple weeks, you know. Your old uncle gets lonely out here by himself." He grinned cheekily and set her down. "Then again, I should count myself lucky to have seen you at all. According to _some_ people, you're a pretty rarely sighted person around these parts."

Pan's expression immediately gave away her guilt. "You mean the Briefs family? I've seen Bra and wrote to her a bunch and--"

"Listen Pan, I don't need an explanation or anything. I it was just kind of weird for you to drop off the map for a little while. I don't know exactly what made you decide to go to school so far away, and I'm glad that yours truly and your family still got to see you occasionally, but I'm just saying, you used to be really close to everyone in the Briefs family. It'll be good for you to kind of catch up tonight, don't you think?" He cracked another smile to show that he wasn't trying to lecture her.

"Yeah, sure. I just...are they mad or anything? I know I should have visited them when I was here for vacations and everything." She looked up at her uncle with uneasy eyes, looking around to see if any of the Briefs were nearby.

"At first Bulma acted affronted, but you know she just loves to make a scene, and you called her often enough that she knew you were just making a new kind of life in college. Braactually visited you a couple of times and you guys did the cute, girly, best-friends letter-writing thing, so obviously you're both fine. Vegeta couldn't care less, no offense--"

"--none taken--"

"--So I guess the only member of that family you've got to be concerned about is Trunks. Was I deceived for 18 years? I thought you and Trunks were best friends. Absolutely inseparable for a little while."

"Yeah...for a little while." Pan broke eye contact with her uncle nervously, afraid that he might possibly see how uncomfortable she was. How could she tell him that spending so much time with someone she was increasingly having feelings for but could never have had taken a massive toll on her?

At 18, Pan and Trunks had never been closer. They'd have lunch together every day, always making Pan late for her class after lunch period, and he'd helped her with all of her college applications, while she (unbeknownst to Bulma) helped him make major decisions about work. They did everything together--almost everything.

_5 years earlier_

"Yale?" Trunks looked up from the application he held in his hand to the girl sitting cross-legged on the leather couch across the room. "Pan, that's...that's halfway across the world. You sure you want to do that?"

She set down her bad Chinese take-out and uncrossed her legs, "It probably won't happen. For one thing, that school is so prestigious and hard to get into. There are schools here that'll provide me with a lot of the same opportunities, and it'd be hard being so far from home." Underneath her words, she was thinking about how hard it would be to be far away from Trunks.

"Hell yes that's far away from home. I'd never see you, dork-face. Plus you'd be so loaded down with homework you'd never want to come visit me." Pan's heart leaped up into her throat when she heard him say these words, even though she knew his thoughts were only of friendship. A 25-year-old CEO would never even think about an 18-year-old tag-a-long that way. "But don't say it won't happen. Weren't you almost valedictorian at Orange High? Your standardized test scores are off the chart, and I don't just let you help me with CEO business matters because I'm your friend, if you know what I'm saying. You're smart, Panny. You must've inherited _some_of your parents' brains, even if you can't fight for shit."

Pan's jaw dropped. "Come here and say that, you ass! I've sparred and beaten you fair and square plenty of times. Don't be jealous just because I'm smarter _and_ stronger than you."

Trunks grinned wildly. "Well I would come over there and prove you wrong, but you know how my mom hates it when I ruin all my good suits."

"Just shut up and read my admissions essay, will you? I'll go over Tech-Marker's proposal while you're doing that. So far it sounds like they want to try to swindle you out of a couple billion with their stupid merger idea, so you'll probably have to meet with some lawyers and hash out a new proposal."

Trunks raised an eyebrow in admiration, then sighed heavily and rocked back in his expensive leather chair, whining, "Paaaaaan, I hate work."

"I don't see why. I do it all for you anyways, you big baby." She smiled to herself, secretly loving every minute of it.

Just then Trunks' new secretary walked in, and Pan's smile immediately disappeared. She locked her gaze on the paperwork in front of her and her eyes flew back and forth over the page in an effort to distract herself. She knew what was coming up next, although she tried to convince herself that she wasn't unhappy with the situation. That was the problem: she had to convince herself somehow that she wasn't in love with her much elder best friend.

Ever since she'd become cognizant of boys and her adolescent attraction to them, even before she'd realized her unlucky romantic interest in Trunks, she'd known one thing: women couldn't help but throw themselves at Trunks Briefs. He was and had always been the ultimate ladies' man, and because of his fame and fortune was now being described as "One of the world's hottest (and most eligible) bachelors." Trunks' slew of secretaries all knew this--some were even ivy league graduates who interviewed for the job with the sole intention of meeting and dating Trunks Briefs.

The latest one walked in, all legs and short skirt and glistening blond hair and low-cut top. She was all the things Pan would never be and all the things Trunks seemed to want in a woman, even if she was just a clone of a million other women out there.

Although Pan wasn't looking, she could picture exactly the expression on both of their faces. Trunks would be leaning back and looking up and down admiringly at this piece of work, who he'd already been dating for a month, which was quite an impressive run for a girlfriend of Trunks'. She would be playing with her hair or a bra strap while trying her best to look seductive, which Pan always found sickening, but which seemed to appeal to her friend.

The conversation started out as expected. The blond said "Mr. Briefs, there's a woman on line one who says she needs to talk to you about some family function," in a high, wispy voice, then added, "And also, I booked the reservations for tonight and bought you a present. I'll be wearing it."

Pan nearly gagged and wondered whether this girl even realized there was another human being in the room, but managed to keep poring over the report with a determined silence which can only come from practice. Then, to her everlasting delight, she heard it: the tone. Every time Trunks wanted to break it off with one of these women (and she had been there for a large percentage of the heart-breaking, so she recognized it immediately), he used a certain tone of voice. It was cold, professional, and efficient, and it was like music to her ears.

"I'm afraid I'm not going to be able to make it tonight Lauren." Pan snapped her head up to catch the crushed look on the girl's face. Trunks hadn't said anything that final, but with that tone of voice, it was understood that Lauren was all washed up. Pan watched as Lauren's lower lip began to quiver in confusion or disbelief. Then, as a cruel afterthought, Trunks added "And you'll probably want to return whatever you bought for me. You won't be needing it."

Pan saw Lauren's eyes fill with tears and was almost sorry for her, but then remembered that Lauren had most definitely been a bitch for the short while she'd been working at Capsule Corp. Sometimes she felt sorry for the really nice girls, the ones who might honestly have been looking for a job but who got caught by Trunks' animal magnetism. However, with Lauren she could barely keep herself from waving goodbye to the girl as she walked out the door. She would be completely gone within a week.

"Well then, _Mr. Briefs_" Pan started after the soon-to-be ex-secretary had left, sarcastically calling Trunks by his professional name because he hated it, "Since you're gonna be free tonight, care to settle your earlier claim in a spar after work?"

Trunks glanced up from Pan's essay as if he'd forgotten she was there and smiled at her. "Who said I was free tonight?"

"But...but you just..."

"I know. I just broke up with Lauren. I'm seeing Marron now. We're having dinner tonight."

For a moment, Pan's heart stopped completely. Marron was different. Marron wasn't a secretary, or a high-powered executive's daughter, or some bar-hopper with connections. Marron was serious, and she knew it. She knew it from the matter of fact way he'd said "I'm seeing Marron now." Right now Pan hated the fact that she could read Trunks so perfectly, because it meant that she could see how intent he was on making this a serious relationship with just a few sentences.

Besides all that, Pan knew that Marron had had a thing for Trunks for a very long time now, and she was very different from the run-of-the-mill secretary type. While not exactly smart, Marron could play up what little she knew and combine it with her charm and good-looks so that she could fool anyone. Pan wasn't particularly close to her, but she knew that Marron was graceful and demure--everything a woman should be. And she was close to the family, which meant Trunks _had_to be serious about it if he wanted to risk a relationship with someone who couldn't just fade quietly out of his life.

After that day at the office, everything changed. Pan had been all too right about Marron, and Trunks had been all too right about Yale. The months passed, and every time she saw Trunks and Marron together, her heart hurt a little more and was threatening to break completely. Meanwhile, she'd gotten an acceptance letter from Yale. The prospect of school so far away completely scared her, but she was finding it seriously hard to be around Trunks or any of the Briefs family anymore since Marron had become such a large part of their lives.

As Trunks' first really serious girlfriend, Bulma and Bra were all worked up about marriage and babies, which made Pan sick. Vegeta was no help, since he constantly reminded Pan that her strength was probably diminishing because of her new lack of training sessions with Trunks. He'd started to not only blow off but completely ignore Pan, either because of work or Marron. Whole weeks would go by when she wouldn't see him, but she couldn't get away from his presence everywhere in magazines, newspapers and TV.

Over the next few months, as May first, the last date to send in acceptance letters for school, drew near, Yale was starting to look more and more appealing. It was, after all, a law school, and a very good one at that, and law was her major. It was incredibly prestigious. It was a chance to explore America. And, most importantly, it was far away...very far away. Far enough that she wouldn't have to think about or hear about Trunks on a day-to-day basis and she could take her mind off of him.

She sent in a letter accepting her admission to the school on April 30th and began making plans to go overseas immediately.

_Present_

Pan's brief flashback had apparently made her eyes glaze over, because when she snapped out of it, Goten was snapping his fingers in front of her face. She laughed good-naturedly. "Sorry Goten. I was just thinking about how long it's been since I last saw everyone. Oh! Before I forget, Mark says to leave food for him. He's parking the car but he'll be in soon."

Goten made a face as if he'd just been insulted. "Me? Eat all the food? Pan, I can't believe you would think such a thing..."

But as he rambled on, his voice trailed off in Pan's ear. She'd just caught sight of _him_. He was wearing nothing more intricate than a white, button-up shirt rolled up to the elbows with a thin black tie and pants, but she knew he'd probably spent a fortune on the outfit, especially since he always had to get his clothes tailored to make room for his broad chest and large arms. She couldn't believe she still knew all of this, and shook her head to clear her thoughts, but she couldn't. She stared hungrily at his ridiculous lilac hair and endless blue eyes, framed by a strong jaw and cheekbones that looked like they'd been carved by angels. Only after a significantly large amount of time had passed did she realize that he was staring at her as well, and moving through the crowd towards her.

She panicked, knowing she'd somehow have to explain dazing off in the middle of Goten's speech and why she was staring at her old friend. Just then, she felt a familiar hand slip around her waist.

"It was Hell parking the car, baby, but I managed. I knew I'd have to hurry if I wanted to get anything to eat. Hey, Goten." She looked up over her shoulder to see Mark's thick brown hair over her head and his brown eyes smiling down at her and then flitting over to Goten. She smiled nervously and wrapped his hand tighter around her waist to feel more secure, and then, uncontrollably, her gaze shifted back to Trunks.

He had frozen in the middle of the floor, and his eyes weren't on her any longer, but rather fixed directly on Mark.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3--------Look! You guys get a header this time!

**Author's Note: Thanks for the encouraging reviews! I know it sounds cheesy, but when I get reviews it really does inspire me to write. It lets me know someone cares about the story. **

All of a sudden his world had been thrown upside down. Nothing made sense and he might as well have been in a dream.

First of all, he'd found himself overwhelmingly attracted to a girl who didn't have blond hair, which, he admitted, _never_ happened. _Then_, the girl turned out to be none other than his awkwardly ex-best friend Pan Son whom he hadn't seen or heard from in five years. And to top it all off, some scrawny asshole was putting his hands all over her as if he owned her.

He could feel his blood pressure rising and his hands clenching into fists, although he had no feasible explanation for this sudden display of aggression. Before he could stop them, the words "Kill that son of a bitch" began racing through his brain repeatedly, and every second it was becoming harder for him to think straight. He tried to force himself to calm down and to clarify his own surroundings and the bizarre situation, but for some reason he couldn't focus, and he was finding it harder and harder not to walk across the room and punch some guy he'd never met in the face. He had no idea where these violent urges had come from, but he was starting to feel as insensitive and sadistic as his father.

Thankfully, before his rashness could manifest itself, his downward spiral of dangerous thoughts was interrupted by two bright blue blurs speeding past his field of vision on both sides and two equally high-pitched squeals accompanying them. He was finally able to pull focus and, with his extra-sensitive sayajin hearing (although he hardly needed it) listened in as Bra and his mother assailed Pan.

"It's been _so long_," he could hear his mother saying, as she practically squeezed the life out of Pan. Then, as Bra and Pan hugged each other, Bulma turned to the stranger who'd been forced to break away from Pan. "And this must be Mark! I'm so happy to have finally met you. Bra tells me you and Pan have been dating for quite a while now." Trunks saw his mother smile benevolently in the man's direction as anger began to well up in him once more.

"You must be Mrs. Briefs." He laughed charmingly, and Trunks hated him all the more for it because he knew his mother would be wooed. "And yeah, it's been a little over a year now, so..." Trunks couldn't even hear the rest of what _Mark_ had said. He'd been too distracted by his last unbelievable statement. A year?! Pan hadn't dated _anyone_ seriously in high school--how could she be so attached to this clown now?

"She's so grown up." This unneeded statement came from Trunks' immediate right, where Goten was standing, ripping apart a sandwich that must surely have come directly from the Briefs refrigerator. "I can hardly believe it's been five years since you've seen her, man. I can't imagine getting this kind of a transformation sprung on me. She used to be so different, don't you remember?"

Trunks did remember. He remembered two days specifically: the day she was accepted to Yale and the day she left. He wondered, in the subconscious of his subconscious, if, had he redone those days between them, things would be different. Maybe instead of ignoring him for so long she would have...

But he had ignored her too.

_Five years earlier._

As she kissed him, he ran his hands down her back and slyly undid the zipper on the back of her skirt. "Thanks for stopping by today," he murmured as she fell to work on his shirt buttons, "Work was getting absolutely unbearable." She smiled, but didn't say a word. He knew she enjoyed "distracting" him from work like this. He never had to ask twice for her to come by and see him.

That was what was so great about Marron: she didn't insist on a lot of conversation and was perfectly content to maintain what Trunks called a "healthy physicality" in their relationship. They continued along that same course of events, their raw lust heightened by the fact that they were in Trunks' office in the middle of a workday. Things were getting hot and heavy, and Marron had almost gotten his shirt and tie off when...

"Trunks!" a voice called in excitement, "I just--" Pan stopped short in her tracks, eyes wide in shock as she processed the sight in front of her which she'd just interrupted, as a highly disgruntled secretary rushed in behind her through the now open door.

"Mr. Briefs, I'm so sorry. I told her you were in a meeting, but she just rushed in. It won't happen again, I promise." Then, suddenly realizing her boss' rather disheveled state herself, she blushed, looked awkward, and scurried from the room, not bothering to drag Pan out with her.

None of the three figures in the room moved for an agonizing couple of seconds, but then Marron, a devious and almost pleased twinkle in her eye, sat up from the desk on which she was perched and looked Pan directly in the eye as she zipped up her skirt and said, "Trunks, you really should lock your office door so we don't get interrupted like this. It's probably extremely uncomfortable for poor little Pan to see something like this that she's had no experience with." She smiled at Pan, and while perhaps it was intended to seem comforting, it sent the message "See? I own him. Don't come around anymore."

Then Marron stood up, walked over to Trunks, who had backed away from the desk a couple of paces, and slowly, deliberately, stroked the side of his face with her hand. She then wrapped both arms around his neck, and, to Pan's everlasting grief, kissed him. She took her time, and he responded passionately, not knowing that her interaction with him was a warning signal to Pan.

Pan watched, mere feet away, as Marron stood in the very place she longed to be, and her heart broke a little more with each agonizing second that Marron held on. She wanted to cry out so that they would stop, but anything she did now would be a dead giveaway. It would be just what Marron wanted so that later she and Trunks could laugh about the silly, lovesick dreams of an adolescent girl together.

Finally, what seemed like years later, they broke apart, and Marron, just as slowly and deliberately as before, ran her hands through his hair with an air of possession and looked back to Pan as she said, "Call me when you're done explaining things to her, darling." Then she walked past Pan and giggled as she exited, not shutting the door behind her.

Trunks, not understanding anything that had just happened between the two women, smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head with his hands. Then, seeing the absolutely shocked look on Pan's face, he began to shift his weight from foot to foot uncomfortably, realizing that something had gone horribly wrong. Why did Pan look so shocked? She knew that he and Marron were dating, and she was eighteen for Dende's sake--she knew, at least from school education, the intricacies and intimacies of a relationship, so why was it such a big deal? He'd expected her to laugh it off and tease him about it.

Then again, he wasn't quite so sure of what Pan would or wouldn't do. In the three months that'd he been dating Marron, he hadn't seen a lot of his best friend. Their lunches had stopped, they weren't sparring more than once every two weeks now, and he found his work growing sloppier as he neglected to double check contracts and write airtight proposals, which had always been Pan's unofficial job. He simply knew that that time now was being occupied by Marron, and while occasionally he felt pangs of guilt, he knew that he had to pour this much time and energy into Marron if he wanted to keep this new and relatively long relationship going strong. He'd just expected Pan to roll with the punches, but apparently this wasn't in her plans at all.

"Panny, why the weird face? You getting squeamish on me?" He laughed nervously and, realizing his shirt buttons were still undone, hastily buttoned them.

"I...uh..." Pan closed her mouth finally, realizing it'd been hanging open the whole time. "Sorry I interrupted," was all she could manage to say. There were no other words for what she was feeling. She never cared what Trunks did behind closed doors because up until now her imagination had been strong enough to deny the fact that Trunks was ever physically intimate with anyone. Not having had any experiences like that herself (truth be told, barely even having kissed someone), she was hardly prepared for the movie screen passion put on display for her by Marron. Besides all that, the whole scene was horribly final proof that Trunks cared for another girl--another woman--much more than he did for her, and simultaneously she realized that she needed to grow up and face the facts. She had to destroy even the foolish fantasy of loving him, although that was all she had, so that she could move on and maybe have some sort of normal youth.

"It's cool. Uh...I guess...yeah, I guess next time I'll either just lock my door or, you know, you could listen to the secretary or whatever. That'd stop this sort of thing from happening again, you know?" He fumbled over his words, not knowing exactly what would comfort her. "What were you coming to tell me?"

She was still in a daze, staring glassy-eyed at him while she gently let the piece of paper in her hand fall to the floor. "Nothing," she whispered. Then, because she felt so childish and ugly and overwhelmed, she ran from the room in embarrassment.

Trunks drew his eyebrows together thoughtfully. That was by far the most uncomfortable moment he'd ever had with Pan, and he hadn't liked it at all. Her overreaction to the whole thing made him feel guilty, and then he became irritated with her for making him feel guilty. He hadn't even done anything wrong! He'd been on his own time, with his girlfriend, in his own private space, on which she had no right to intrude.

After she was long gone, he remembered she'd forgotten to pick up her paper. He walked across the room and picked it up, smoothing it out in his hands as he read,

_Dear Ms. Son,_

_We are pleased to inform you that we think you would be a welcome addition to this school. Enclosed are..._

...and at the bottom of the letter he read the bold, flourished emblem that said "Yale."

She'd gotten in. She'd come in to tell him that she'd been accepted to one of the most prestigious schools in the world and she'd been presented with something she had most definitely not expected. After all, she'd barely even seen him out and about with other women, let alone in an intimate moment with one.

His feelings of anger and irritation began to ebb away, leaving him feeling only guilt that he hadn't bothered to set things right or to apologize. He'd let her know tomorrow how proud of her he was. Still holding the letter in his hand, he reached for his phone to call Marron...

_Present_

So what? So he had perhaps treated his friend a little unfairly. He could especially see the absurdity of the situation after the fact, since Marron was no longer a part of his life. Yet had those few moments of awkwardness warranted five years of shunning? _Ah, but you're forgetting that it was more than a few moments of awkwardness_, his mind told him. He struggled to remember his last few months with his friend before she'd left for college and then, with a shock, found that he couldn't. Therein lay the problem.

Had he ever called her or talked to her after that day to say congratulations on her acceptance or to praise her? If so, not notably, otherwise he would have remembered. Thinking back, he'd been so caught up in Marron and her novelty as a full-time girlfriend that he'd hardly spared a second thought for Pan.

There had been so many things wrong with that last day, and he hadn't picked up on any of them, dense as he'd been at the time. Had all of this been brewing throughout his whole relationship with Marron? But at that point, what could he have possibly done to rectify things?

_Five years earlier..._

"Trunksie, don't get out of bed," Marron whined. She wrapped her legs around him and began trailing kisses down his arm. He still hadn't gotten used to living with someone besides his family, and he was obviously having trouble adjusting to the time constraints of a needy girlfriend. He _definitely_ wanted to stay in bed with Marron and take her up on her enticing, unspoken offer, but he was already an hour late. He regretfully pulled away and quickly darted into the bathroom, throwing on an old t-shirt and jeans and running a comb through his hair and a toothbrush through his mouth.

From the next room he heard, "Why do you have to go right now?"

"Because Pan's leaving for Yale today, sweetie. I promised her I'd see her off at the airport. I have to hurry, though. Her flight leaves in 45 minutes and it'll take me half an hour just to get to the airport and find parking. I should have been there an hour ago."

"Oh, she won't mind. Long goodbyes are overrated anyways. What would you have possibly talked about or said for an hour together anyways? It just would have been anticlimactic."

Trunks rolled his eyes as he spat into the sink and rushed back into the bedroom. "Anticlimactic or not, I'm gonna catch it from her _and_ from my mom for being late." He swiftly kissed Marron on the forehead, grabbed his keys, and jogged out the door.

Once at the airport, he sprinted past the confused travelers and up a flight of stairs to Pan's gate. He only had to look around for a few seconds before he caught sight of his mother and sister's blue hair. They were both clustered around Pan, along with her whole family and a few of her other friends. She was hugging Goten fiercely, and she had her carry-on luggage in one hand. He knew he'd caught her just before she was about to go through security to the final boarding.

He walked up from behind her. "Hey, Panny." He kept his voice neutral, hoping that if he didn't draw too much attention to the fact that he was late, everything would be fine. Immediately she stopped hugging Goten and spun around. Instead of beaming with overwhelming joy, as it should have been, Pan's face was expressionless. In fact, she almost looked a little sad.

"Hey, Trunks," she said awkwardly. She hadn't even hugged him! It was then that he noticed the stares of everyone else in the group, all of which seemed to be somewhat angry. His mother, being the most authoritative and also his outspoken mother, was the first to speak up.

"Nice of you to show up, son." Her sarcasm was not overlooked by Trunks. He knew he'd messed up by blowing off this last hour with Pan. He rubbed one arm nervously, and rather than address his mother, he looked down at Pan.

"I'm so sorry I'm late. There was, uh, just a few things I had to take care of at the office first." He tried to smile, hoping she would buy the bullshit he was giving her, although he already knew she would see right through it.

Instead of calling him out on his fake excuse, Pan simply said, "That's okay. I'm just glad you could make it at all," but the hurt in her voice was evident. Apparently, the damage had already been done. "Um, I was just getting ready to leave. Airport security takes a few minutes, and I don't want to miss my flight." The attempted casualty in her tone and the way she could simply talk about the flight without pointing any fingers at him made him feel even more guilty.

"Right, right. Well, I just wanted to wish you the best of luck at your fancy new school. And, um, I'm going to miss you a lot Pan," he said, trying desperately to make her believe him.

"Will you?" she whispered so that only he could hear, looking up at him with mournful eyes. They were the last words he was to hear from her for a very long time.

He nodded, and grabbed her into a hug, hoping that he'd somehow managed to make amends with his best friend.

Later, as he and the rest of Pan's send-off party watched the plane take off through the panoramic windows in the airport, he felt a rush of regret and of longing...for what he didn't and couldn't possibly know. And the walk to his car alongside Bulma, Bra, Goten, Gohan and Videl was one of the most uncomfortable experiences of his life.

_Present_

Yes, she remembered that last hug. Looking across the room directly at the man who had been such a large part of her life for eighteen years, she felt a rush of memories come flooding back. She never _had _believed his story about office work. He'd never chosen office work over her before, and he wouldn't have done it on her last day in town.

That last hug...she'd clung on to him desperately, although she doubted he noticed at the time. She remembered her heart racing as she held the guy she _thought_ she was meant to be with. Fortunately she'd found Mark, and dependence like that was a thing of the past. She and Mark shared equally in their love, and he would never have compromised something that important with office work.

More and more over the five years she'd been apart from Trunks she'd realized how ridiculous it had been for her to have feelings for him in the first place. From his track record, it was apparent that he had serious issues with commitment and fidelity. He couldn't even make it with Marron past two years. She had fully convinced herself that any feelings towards Trunks had been purely puppy love.

...But still she felt her heart start beating faster, blood rushing to her head, making her legs feel weak, as soon as he turned his endless blue eyes from Mark to her.

End of the chapter...

Author's Note:

**Sorry that chapter took so long! I kept falling asleep at my computer every night after work. I'll try to get them up faster. :)**

**I guess there's a couple of things I need to address. Um, as you may have realized, Trunks is only seven years older than Pan in this fic. :/ I know it's kind of weird, but the ages just sort of seemed right to me. Sorry for not upholding the facts completely. **

**Also, sorry it's taking so long to get to the actual story. I just needed to get these background stories taken care of in sort of a weird narrative way so that you guys know what's going on. I promise, there's good stuff coming soon. **

**One more thing: Trunks and Marron **_**did**_** have a relationship in this story, but as you can see, it has ended, and also, she was a bitch. :) I hope that alleviates some of the pain. Promise I won't glorify her. **

**Oh wait! Please review! 345 hits: 9 reviews is a sad little ratio. :( **

**That's all.**

**Love,**

**Alysia**

**P.S. This stuff is all kind of unedited still, but I hope you guys don't mind. **


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